Owner
of Cakeage, Eleanor Heaphy has a vibrant, bubbly personality, which certainly
translates into her stunning cakes. Her intricate, colourful designs are
modern, chic and extremely eye catching and while they may look clean and
simple, don’t be fooled they are exceptionally complex and take days to create.
As a
kid, Eleanor always had a love for helping her mum out in the kitchen.
These
days she’s a mum herself, who manages to make balancing family life and work
look easy (every mum out there knows how difficult this really is). Eleanor
also has passion for teaching and through classes, loves to pass on her
knowledge and enthusiasm of sugarcraft to her students.
Marianna’s
Caking Me Crazy was lucky enough to sit down and chat with Eleanor about her cake
journey, here’s what she had to say.
When
did you first become interested in cake decorating, was there anyone who
inspired you?
My mum always made us cakes from The AWW book when we were
kids (there were seven of us, so she was always baking a cake for someone!), so
I think my love for cake decorating came from her, and was later encouraged by
my first teacher, a world champion cake decorator, Kerrie Walsh.
When
did you start your business Cakeage and why?
I started it about 4 years ago after
I received an encouraging email from Jen Yates (who writes the Cake Wrecks
blog) – It was the first time in my life I did something just because I WANTED
to, scary, but oh so empowering!
What's
the best part of running a cake business?
Meeting other people who love cake
as much as I do, and creating beautiful things from basic raw materials.
So
how many years have you been in the industry for now?
I’ve been decorating for 7 years on and off (in between
raising three children – 11, 10 and 8 now) but have only been running “Cakeage”
in its current form for 3 & ½ years.
What
is it about cake decorating that you love the most?
The blank canvas! I love it when all the cakes are ganached,
iced and assembled, waiting to be dressed- so much potential exists in that
space!
What
is your most loved cake decorating tool and why.
My cornflour duster J I have very hot hands, and I can’t
do anything without cornflour.
As
a cake artist what do you enjoy creating the most?
I love quirky kids cakes, especially those based on
invitation artwork, or fabric designs. Novelty cakes give me a big buzz too-
and they are very forgiving – there are always lots of places to hide mistakes
with a bit of texture or an extra detail or two!
As
a cake artist what do you find the most challenging about cake decorating?
I’m not an artist, so I find that extremely challenging! I
think cake decorators come to sugarcraft one of two ways: they are either an
artist who decides to make sugar their primary medium, or a cake baker/maker
who tries to use artwork on their cakes. I fall into the latter category, so
I’m often frustrated by my inability to translate my great idea into beautiful
edible “art”- but I keep trying and every day I get a little better at it!
How
do you remain competitive in such an evolving industry?
I don’t really know. I don’t think I work at being
competitive, I try instead to be distinctive. And honest about what I can do
and what I can’t. I am interested in caking trends, and what the market is
willing to pay for quality work, but ultimately I work to please my client and
myself.
If
you had to give one piece of advice to a fellow cake decorator what would it
be?
Do your own thing, and be YOU! It’s important to develop your own style and
let a little of your own unique personality shine though in the work you do.
Do
you run cake decorating classes?
Yes I do! I wanted to de- mystify the whole cake “thing” for
people, especially mums, just starting to make their own children’s birthday
cakes. I trained as a high school teacher, so teaching cake decorating uses
both my skill sets (I also studied law, but I can’t seem to find a way to
incorporate that into cake decorating, thank goodness!). I teach beginners
classes from my home studio in The Gap, Brisbane. Over the past 3 years my
class offerings have grown (thanks to gentle encouragement from returning students!)
to include sugar flower classes, sculpted novelty cake classes and cupcake
classes, as well as our very popular six week beginners courses.
Where
do you see yourself and Cakeage in 10 years?
I hope to be doing pretty much what I do now- but better and
faster! I’m no spring chicken (at 41) but I am encouraged by other amazing
decorators, like Michelle Rea, Karen Portaleo, Margie Carter, Mike McCarey who
have really hit their straps in their late forties/early fifties.
What's
your most favourite cake that you have made to date?
My favourite cake is a Mexican themed three tier cake I made
for a combined 30th/housewarming party- I love the colours and the
quirky little lizards! I have a photo- not a great one though- I made this cake
before I realised how important good photos were to cake decorators- after the
cake is gone, the image of your cake becomes your “product”.
What
do you do as a cake decorator to keep bettering your skills?
Take on work that provides me with opportunities to use new
techniques, and take classes myself. If I can’t find a real “live” class I use
one of the many online class platforms now available. I also find that teaching
others helps to hone your own skills – when you have to think about a process
so you can break it down and teach it to someone else, you learn a lot!
What's
one technique that you wish you saw more of in cake decorating?
More Aussie native sugar flowers on cakes- I LOVE them!!!
What's
your favourite cake flavour to make and work with?
Good old
chocolate mudcake! It rarely misbehaves J
Do
you have a most memorable cake decorating moment?
Working late at night with my best friend Kim to make one of
her boy’s birthday cakes, which we have done lots of times over the years- Kim
is completely gumby (no fine motor skills at ALL) but her sense of colour and
movement is better than mine- together we always come up with something better
than either of us could do on our own- and have heaps of fun along the way! One
of our cakes even ended up On Cake Wrecks “Sunday Sweets”!
Do
you have a most memorable cake decorating disaster?
Baking 15 kgs of Bakels white mud mix to the wrong recipe
and then having to rebake everything from scratch! I used the mix to save time-
Ha! More fool me!
Who
are the cake decorators you most aspire to be like?
Ron Ben Israel, Faye Cahill, Kaysie Lackey, Lisa Grech Staehr,
Avalon Yarnes – there are so many decorators I admire- I’d need two pages to
name them all!
What
is your most loved cake decorating technique and why?
Inlaid stripes and geometrics- they look so clean and
graphic, and require thought and planning to get just right.
What’s
your advice to other decorators who run a cake business?
Don’t be afraid to say “no” – if you don’t think you can
pull a cake design off to the client’s satisfaction, be honest. Your client
will appreciate it, and often be more than happy to change the design to better
suit your skill set.
Do
you hope to pass your skills on to your children?
I hope to pass on my enthusiasm to my children – watching
Mummy having to repeatedly try really hard to get something right because she
really enjoys the outcome of her hard work is important. When they watch me
work the message I want my kids to receive is: don’t give up on something that
brings you joy because it is sometimes hard work, persist and your work will
become your joy.
Thank you Eleanor for sharing your cake journey with us, we
wish you all the best and look forward to seeing more of those wonderful
creations you make.
To see more of Eleanor’s wonderful work and find out more
information on the classes she runs visit her website and Facebook page.
All images are
courtesy of Cakeage Cake Craft- all pictures are subject to copyright
mariannacakingmecrazy@gmail.com
https://www.facebook.com/MariannasCakingMeCrazy
